Typically, transmitted signals are collected by a receiver and processed during predetermined time intervals called dwells. The processing of signals received during a previous dwell occurs during a subsequent dwell. An inter-dwell period exists between dwells to allow for the reconfiguration of data processing circuits and other hardware in response to the processed data of the most recent dwell. Any processing of received signals or collecting of received signals is typically halted during this inter-dwell period.
The scan status of an electronic support measure (ESM) receiver or an electronic intelligence (ELINT) receiver is conventionally expressed via a utilization metric, which is defined as the sum of individual dwell durations divided by individual dwell revisit times. Direct measurement of the utilization metric is typically not possible. The utilization metric may be estimated by adding an assessment dwell to the scan strategy with an assigned revisit time. The assigned revisit time may be the last dwell (the longest revisit time dwell) executed in the scan strategy. Each time this assessment dwell executes, the utilization metric is computed as the time elapsed between successive assessment dwell executions divided by the assessment dwell's assigned revisit time.
This process of estimating the utilization metric is accurate, but suffers from large delays associated with inability to control the utilization estimate update rate. In order to control and specify the update rate to provide timely utilization updates for display to an operator, a specific need exists for removing the conventional restriction of requiring the assessment dwell to be the slowest dwell in the scan strategy, thereby allowing the selection of an arbitrary update rate.